links for 2009-08-02

"As it stands, Twitter followers are at a significant disadvantage over RSS subscribers, because the former are less engaged than the latter. This isn’t to say Twitter accounts can’t be highly influential, just that they require a lot more skill on the part of the author to engage his or her audience, says Scocco." I agree.

"Military imposters are nothing new. But the problem has grown or at least become more obvious as charlatans are easily able to find fake military documents, medals and uniforms on auction Web sites. At the same time, the Internet has also stepped up the cat-and-mouse game, allowing watchdogs to uncover fraudulent claims much faster and mobilize a more effective response."

"On an average weekday, the unemployed sleep an hour more than their employed peers. They tidy the house, do laundry and yard work for more than two hours, twice as much as the employed. The unemployed also spend an extra hour in the classroom and an additional 70 minutes in front of the television." Interesting.

"The US says it is using all available means to assist three Americans arrested inside Iran after apparently straying across the Iraqi border. Iran accuses the three of ignoring warnings from border guards and crossing into its territory on Friday from Iraq's Kurdish region. Washington has asked the Swiss, who look after US interests in Teheran, to seek consular access to the three." Fun times.

"microblog-purple is a plugin for Pidgin that works both on Windows and Linux, that supports Twitter, Identica, and Laconica-base server through the conversation windows." Easy to use and totally works.

"Apple keyboards are vulnerable to a hack that puts keyloggers and malware directly into the device's firmware. This could be a serious problem, and now that the presentation and code (PDF) is out there, the bad guys will surely be exploiting it." Oops?

"Advertising, for another, as more and more women came to feel harassed by the "porno-chic" trend that put nearly-naked women on billboards everywhere. "Being able" to go topless gradually evolved into feeling obliged to do so, and eventually, the prevailing feminist perspective changed from revelling in a new-found freedom to refusing to give in to the endless pressure to flaunt a "perfect" body." Pretty much sums up the whole change in feminist perspective regarding sexuality, and reflects my personal feelings.